Children. They are, in point of fact, germ manufacturing and distribution facilities. Spawn and Brutus were up on the weekend and, lo and behold, I am lurgified. This circumstance would be more acceptable if it had occurred on a working day, instead of my days off. On the other hand, my germ-addled mind did produce […]

I have a confession to make: for a couple of months now, I've had some Good News that I've not been able to share. And by good news, I mean KERMIT-FLAILINGLY AWESOME NEWS! It has been very difficult not to share this news with you all, and I feel most strongly that you should all […]

Back in June, I guest-posted over at David McDonald's blog, on the topic of silence: It's something I've heard at almost every point of wanting and trying to build a writing career: you have to be active on the internet. …But it comes at a cost. There's the inevitable time pressure, yes, but then there's […]

This weekend just past I threw what little clothes that still fit me into a suitcase, remembered my ugg boots, and skedaddled off to Lake Mulwala for a writing retreat. In a move that will haunt me for the rest of my living memory, I forgot my camera. Luckily, others didn't. The lake is actually […]

Having finished the cherry crow children story (for certain values of finished), I find myself unable to concentrate particularly well. Coherency is not my strong point right now. It's taken me the last three days to pack, in fits and starts and indecisions, for our overnight stay in Sydney this weekend. So in lieu of […]

GUYS, I KNOW THE END OF THIS STORY. (This story being the cherry crow children).1 Now I just have to get there. I don't actually know that bit. Yet. I'm scared to stop and count how many words I've written, thrown out, dragged back in, rewritten, edited, revised, and just generally stared at. Least efficient […]

GUYS, (I THINK) I KNOW HOW TO GET TO THE END OF THIS STORY. I am so relieved. I was beginning to wonder if I didn't have a workable idea at all. Turns out it was simply a case of exhaustion and time poverty. Getting a break on that front has given me the valuable […]

On Saturday I decided I had No More Time. So while the pterosaur did his diligent best to look after Squawk and ensure she didn't try to feed tooooo often, I sat myself down in front of the laptop and deathmarched the cherry crow children story. I sat down at 10am. There were breaks (Squawk […]

Out with the old, in with the new: after taking about a week "off", it's been back into writing stories, this time the Clockmakers story. And of course I wasn't really taking time off. I was instead taking some time up front to make sure I knew the end of the story, the point toward […]

Last night, I wrote the last words on the alpha draft of what I've been calling Clockmakers, the actual title of which turns out to be "The Miseducation of Mara Lys". Calling it an alpha draft is a bit generous, to be honest, but in the interests of having something pinned to the page which […]